Technology & Its Human Impact

Car Park Payment Systems - Good or Evil?

Parking area payment machines often pose a fascinating design scenario. In order to create a machine that people can use very first time, without training, is no simple job. Second, they have no constant user interface pattern. Visit 5 different parking lots and you'll find 5 different machine designs. And third, there's often little support or assistance available if you need help because there is no attendant to whom you can turn.

We've known for some time that devices work best when their design considers the limitations of people, rather than making individuals fit the device. However, this basic guideline of considering human usage factors is often flouted in the design of car park payment devices.

Parking area payment devices teach us that use is more than visual design. There's an old stating in usability: you can apply lipstick to a pig, however, it's still a pig. Parking area payment machines teach us that, in some cases, usability does not matter.

If people utilize the machine improperly, there are two possible outcomes. Either a client overpays for parking, in which case the owners of the parking lot make more money. Or consumers underpay for parking, in which case the owners of the parking area raise a fine and make even more cash. In either case, the owner of the parking lot makes more cash. It's like a dark pattern in the same method that the pricing structure of these ticket machines is created to result in over payment.

With most systems, the provider has added assistance expenses, such as call centres and customer service. However, car park payment systems have various designs. If you can't utilize the machine, there's no-one you can turn to for help. You simply need to solve the problem by yourself.

So the sad truth is that, in this case, enhanced usability acts against stakeholder interests.

Private Parking Companies CAN NOT Impose A Fine On You!

Private car parking areas are not normally manned by human beings. In such cases a machine takes your car license plate number using ANPR when you drive in. You enter your car registration into the device when you buy your ticket, but if you do not purchase a ticket or enter an incorrect registration, the registered keeper sometimes gets a demand through the post.

Please note that private parking firms CAN NOT impose a fine on you. Tickets at grocery stores or private parking areas might be camouflaged as fines, but they are simply invoiced charges which are not legal.

It is not prohibited to clamp a visiting parked vehicle’s wheel in a parking lot if it is on private land.

You will find that it is illegal for private operators to seize or clamp or vehicle wheels as well.

If the parking company is not a member of an approved trade regulatory body or does not utilize an authorised local government department for appeals, is not certified with an approved control license or the company is unregulated, then the driver or keeper does not need to pay any fine imposed.

As these policies are new and drivers might not totally comprehend them, private parking companies may make the most of this by pretending the policies offer their business a right to charge penalties for unsettled private parking tickets.

NEVER appeal a private ticket! Simply disregard the ticket and it will disappear. If a parking business tries to prosecute you then the most he can claim from you is the quantity you overstayed when you visited their parking facility